For many years, gaming establishments have offered to the patrons games of chance in the nature of mechanical and electro-mechanical slot machines and video gaming machines.
In the case of a slot machine, players wager one or more coins, tokens or credits to activate pay lines and to make wagers on each pay line. Most slot machines have a "Bet One" button and a "Bet Max" button to allow the player to select the number of credits that the player wishes to wager on that particular spin of the reels. The player then activates the game by pulling a handle or pressing a "Spin" button. The reels spin and symbols are displayed on one or more pay lines when the reels stop spinning. If the player achieves a winning combination of symbols on an active pay line, then the player is a winner. The amount awarded to the player is based on the symbol combinations achieved on the pay line. A pay table shows the amount the player wins for any particular winning combination of symbols.
In the case of video gaming machines, which are typically video draw poker machines (but may be other games of chance displayed to the player on a video gaming machine such as Twenty-One or other poker games), the player also wagers one or more coins, tokens or credits to play the game. Video poker machines also have a "Bet One" button and a "Bet Max" button to allow the player to select the number of credits that the player wishes to wager on that particular deal of the cards. The player then activates the game and a hand of cards is dealt to the player and displayed on a video screen display. If the game is video draw poker, the player then selects which cards of his initial hand he wishes to hold and replacement cards are displayed to the player for the cards the player has discarded. The final player's hand is used to determine whether the player is a winner or a loser based on whether the player has achieved a winning poker hand combination as shown in an accompanying pay table. Typically, the winning hand combinations are based on poker hand rankings with a Royal Flush being the highest winning hand and a pair of Jacks or Better being the lowest winning hand. Any lesser hands are losing hands. The amount that the player wins is based on the poker hand ranking achieved and the amount wagered by the player.
In order to attract players, casinos offer many different kinds of bonuses on their slot machines and video gaming machines. Some of the bonuses offered to the players require the player to make a separate or additional wager to be eligible for the bonus. The more popular bonus games do not cost players any additional money since the bonus is built into the percentages of the games.
In many instances, the bonuses are funded by retaining a certain percentage of coins played, often from the last coin played when the player wagers the maximum number of coins, tokens or credits allowed on the gaming machine which is typically done by the player pressing the "Bet Max" button. In many gaming machines, the player is required to play the maximum number of coins, tokens or credits in order to be eligible for special bonus payouts.
For example, there is a statewide progressive jackpot in the State of Nevada known as the MEGABUCKS slot machine in which a player can win in excess of five million dollars paid as an annuity, but the player is only eligible for this large jackpot if the player wagers three coins, tokens or credits. If the player wagers only one or two coins, tokens or credits and the winning MEGABUCKS symbols appear on the pay line, the player wins a much smaller jackpot.
The large payoff bonuses (such as the MEGABUCKS slot machine) are accumulated progressively and it usually takes a considerable length of time (such as weeks or even months) for a player to win the large MEGABUCKS payoff. This is because the mathematical odds of winning the MEGABUCKS payoff are in excess of thirty million to one.
Other gaming machines (such as the WHEEL OF FORTUNE slot machine, the TOTEM POLE slot machine and video draw poker machines) offer what are known as instant bonus payouts which a player can win after each spin of the reels or after each hand of cards, but the bonus amounts are usually quite small. For example, in conventional video draw poker, a player who wagers a single credit and achieves a Royal Flush is paid odds of 250-for-1. But if a player plays the maximum number of credits, normally five credits, on a video draw poker machine and achieves a Royal Flush, the player is paid four thousand credits (which are odds of 800-for-1 for each credit played) which provides the player a bonus over the amount paid for playing a single credit.
There is a need for a new system of applying bonuses to gaming devices that allows large bonuses to be paid as often as every day, every hour or even more often. It is proposed to utilize a new and unique bonusing system to be called the Skin Game and apply this bonusing system to electro-mechanical slot gaming machines and other video gaming machines such as video poker gaming machines.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and unique bonus system to electro-mechanical slot gaming machines and other video gaming machines such as video poker gaming machines in which a plurality of such gaming machines are linked together and the players compete for a common bonus payout.
It is a feature of the present invention to link together a plurality of gaming machines and provide a common bonus jackpot to be won by the player who achieves the highest winning play over a predetermined time period, such as thirty seconds. A portion of the amounts wagered by the players during the time period are accumulated for the bonus payout. If during a particular time period of play, more than one player achieves the same highest winning amount, then the amount of the bonus payout carries over to the next round of play.
It is an advantage of the present invention that large bonus payout amounts can be generated in a short period of time. Players are encouraged to continue playing as the bonus amounts increase because players are not eliminated from being eligible to win the bonus amount by having small winning hands during any particular round of play since only two players need have a tying winning amount in order for the bonus payout to carry over to the next round of play.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.